Skopje, 2 June 2022 (MIA) – Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried opened the Strategic Dialogue between North Macedonia and the United States, taking place at the State Department in Washington on Thursday. “The Strategic Dialogue with the United States is a new chapter in our mutual relations, which will upgrade our Strategic Partnership and set a framework to further promote cooperation between the two countries. It makes us particularly proud that North Macedonia is the furst country in the Western Balkans to hold this important process, which is recognition of our regional role and a clear signal of the friendship and strong alliance between the two countries,” Osmani said. The official opening was followed by a session on regional initiatives chaired by Osmani and Donfried. The discussion focused on the importance of regional initiatives for the reform processes as particularly important in terms of European integration perspectives and overall stability in the Western Balkans, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release. FM Osmani highlighted North Macedonia’s active participation in a number of regional initiatives, including the Berlin Process, Open Balkan, South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), etc. In addition, he praised their role in terms of economic integration and regional prosperity, underlining that they are not a substitute for membership of the Western Balkan countries in the European Union, but support and speed up their European integration. “Being the initiator of I8 and B6, North Macedonia is a leading country in regional initiatives with a vision to speed up the reform processes, boost economic integration and speed up the European integration of Western Balkan countries. Such an approach is especially important in overcoming the differences between the countries in the region and their sooner integration in the EU. We are particularly grateful to the United States for the continued and unequivocal support to our commitment in this regard,” Osmani stressed. Initiative 8 (I8) is a regional platform, launched by North Macedonia, for trilateral cooperation between North Macedonia, Albania and Bulgaria. The aim of the initiative is to boost political cooperation between the countries along the route of Corridor 8, intensifying cooperation in security, energy, tourism, culture, etc. On the other hand, the B6 initiative is an informal platform for political cooperation of Western Balkan foreign ministers, launched by Minister Osmani in 2021. The aim of the B6 initiative is to deepen mutual communication in order to speed up the integration of the Western Balkans in the EU. The session also tackled current security developments, with participants condemning the Russian military invasion and voicing support to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. In addition, participants in the session applauded North Macedonia’s achievements as part of the European integration processes, sending a message for sooner start of the EU accession negotiations. The agenda of the Strategic Dialogue also included North Macedonia’s 2023 OSCE Chairpersonship, supported by the U.S.